Anne Warlaumont: University of California, Merced

Humans use a wide variety of types of vocal signals to communicate with other humans. Some of these sounds, such as crying, shrieking, and laughing, are thought to be closely related to those of our primate relatives. Others, especially babbling, speaking, and singing, appear to rely to a great extent on learning during infancy and early childhood. I will present a set of computational models that attempt to provide an account for how selection pressures and physiological mechanisms combined to create the adult human vocal repertoire.